ONIT

A struggle that is shared with many social media marketers is how much time should and can be put into social media? Social media is so extensive that if we wanted to we could spend every day, all day, using social media. Social media has become a way of life. We can tell each other what we are thinking every minute of the day through twitter; we can stay in touch with friends and share photo albums through Facebook; review restaurants and find out about local deals through yelp, and the list continues, reaching almost every aspect of our social lives. Social media has turned into an extraordinary tool, connecting people globally. While social media is an amazing phenomenon and one that should be used often and strategically to help us connect and market, we must be careful at times to still take a minute and breath some fresh air. Otherwise, it could be the downfall of us all, like it was for General McChrystal.

General Stanley McChrystal held an extremely valued position in the U.S. government as Commander of the U.S. and NATO Coalition forces in Afghanistan. His downfall can largely be contributed to the incredible pace that information moves in the 21st century, with the majority of the information through social media. The article in the Rolling Stone, that is reportedly the cause for General McChrystal leaving his position, hit newsstands on June 25th, but through social media the news spread far quicker. NBC’s chief foreign-affairs correspondant, tweeted “Rolling Stone quotes Gen McChrystal says Amb(ret Gen) Eikenberry ‘betrayed’ him with leaked memo last yr doubting Karzai story is out fri.” When the article was released online on Monday, June 20th, General McChrystal made Twitter’s top trending list, proving him to be a popular subject of conversation on the social media site. It was not just the social media sites that spread the controversial actions of General McChrystal but it was also the availability of the original Rolling Stone’s article on the web, which was spread through many other news sites. People did not have to wait for the article to appear in their mailboxes, the news spread quickly through social media and the internet and opinions and assessments of the situation spread quickly as well. McChrystal made his way to the White House to speak with President Obama on Tuesday, June 21st, three days before the Rolling Stone article was to be released in print. On Wednesday, still days before the print magazine was released, General McChrystal was relinquished from his position in Afghanistan. This is a huge political move by President Obama and it was caused one hundred percent from the internet and social media. President Obama recently joked at a joint press conference with Russian President Medvedev that they could begin using Twitter for their future communications. Whether he was joking or not, this mention of Twitter and the actions taken against General McChrystal show the relevance, even with the top tier of U.S. political power, that social media has come to play in our lives. Social media is a powerful tool used daily by many, with nearly 50% of Americans, age 12 and up, belonging to at least one social media site. However, we still must find time to breath fresh air, otherwise we all might find ourselves in the same unfortunate position as General McChrystal.